Chris, I think you've put forth a pretty narrow view of design management.
> What's more, I'm not sure that managing a design team requires much > "business-specific" education anyway. It takes a lot of talent and > the ability to do many things other than hands-on design, of course. > But most designers, I think, can learn to manage designers simply by > working with other designers and having the genuine desire to take > responsibility for and take charge of people and projects. This is true only if you're managing down. But I think a successful design manager needs to be able to manage up and out as well. This is where design managers who were once designers fail -- they don't really understand the role their team plays in the bigger organizational picture, and so they can't advocate for the team to be used to make an impact on business planning and strategy. Such design teams become little more than execution shops, carrying out others wishes. Some of the best design managers I've worked with are those with more traditional managerial backgrounds (MBAs, etc.) who were able to appreciate the contribution that design plays in a business' success. If we want our design teams to be more than paper-hat-wearers taking orders from others, and to be listened to by people around the organization, people with "business-specific" educations are going to be some of our greatest colleagues. --peter ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
